FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ANIMAL CRUELTY - PAGE 4

A woman who operated what she described as an animal "rescue" operation has been charged with 43 counts of animal cruelty after sick and underweight animals were found in a filthy Delaware County house, the Pennsylvania SPCA announced Friday. Last month, PSPCA officers, executing a search warrant, removed 28 dogs from Sixth Angel Shepherd Rescue Inc., which Terry Silva, 53, she operated out of her Marcus Hook property. Many of the dogs - all of them German Shepherd and "Shepherd mixes" - were ill, the agency said.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham yesterday charged the former owner of the Society Hill Carriage Co. and his landlord with numerous counts of animal cruelty. Bastawi Ali and Harry Beck were served citations charging that they neglected and cruelly treated as many as nine horses from May 9 of last year through March 17 of this year. They are accused of depriving the horses of necessary food, drink and veterinary care, and access to a clean and sanitary shelter. They face between $50 and $750 in fines and up to 90 days in jail for each act. "There's no excuse for the mistreatment of a helpless animal, and I am committed to seeing that people treat animals in accordance with the law," Abraham said.

HARRISBURG - The sight was sad enough: When the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area seized 29 Morgan horses found languishing this month in a manure-choked barnyard near Hershey, many of the animals were down to skin and bones. Then came the bill: The estimate for the horses' basic veterinary care was $30,000 - not including food, hoof, and dental care, utilities, rent, or the cost of extra help. "You cannot predict the level of animal cruelty in your budget," said the society's executive director, Amy Kaunas.

A Delaware County lawyer who operated a Marcus Hook pet "rescue" operation that was raided in February was found guilty Tuesday of 43 counts of animal cruelty, 28 counts of dog-law violations, and two zoning violations. Terry Silva, 53, who ran the Sixth Angel Shepherd Rescue Inc. out of her two-story building, had no comment after the hearing, where she represented herself. She was fined $7,900. The 28 charges of animal cruelty against an employee, Samantha Kenney, 28, of Marcus Hook, were dismissed.

The Pennsylvania SPCA is launching an initiative to stop animal cruelty, spurred by a recent spate of violence against dogs and cats in the Philadelphia area. At a rally Thursday night, PSPCA chief executive Jerry Buckley said the agency hoped to raise $100,000 to hire a full-time education coordinator and offer more programs for schools, community groups, camps, and after-school activities. The rally was held in front of the agency's building on East Erie Avenue. About 150 animal lovers attended "Justice for Chloe and Hercules," named for two pit-bull mixes who were set on fire in recent weeks.

Animal cruelty investigators are preparing charges against two city women accused this week in some of the largest hoarding cases in recent memory. George Bengal, director of law enforcement for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he expects cruelty charges against Olga Federov, of Olney. Officials seized 90 animals from her house on Tuesday, including dogs, cats, chinchillas and pigeons. A South Philadelphia woman, not yet identified, will be charged in connection with keeping an astounding 85 Chihuahuas and Chihuahua-mix dogs at her home on Earp Street near 8th, Bengal said.

After recent dog-fighting and pet "hoarding" discoveries, the Pennsylvania SPCA declared yesterday that an animal-cruelty "epidemic" was sweeping Philadelphia. On Saturday, a PSPCA agent discovered a pit-bull fighting house with 18 dogs. Three days earlier, 62 cats and dogs were found hoarded in a feces-filled Northeast rowhouse, a situation that PSPCA officers called "one of the worst cases of cruelty they have ever seen," said Howard Nelson, the agency's chief executive officer.

For the record, he is animal No. 1157638 at the Pennsylvania SPCA's North Philadelphia shelter, but the staff has dubbed him E.T. Like the beloved movie alien, the rambunctious but friendly pit bull has a big head and no ears. Unlike the character, the canine E.T. had his floppy ears sliced off - by Philadelphia dog fighters, probably because they were vulnerable in fights, PSPCA officials say. E.T. was one of 12 pit bulls discovered in February in an alleged dog-fighting ring in Kensington.

A former curator of the Norristown zoo pleaded not guilty yesterday to 243 counts of cruelty to animals in a case in which police said they found animals feeding on decaying carcasses to stay alive. Joseph W. Marchese, 46, of the 700 block of Kohn Street, Norristown, could receive a maximum fine of $300 or 90 days in jail or both on each count if convicted. His attorney, Dominic J. Centrella, argued at the hearing that District Justice Walter F. Gadzicki Jr. of Limerick should disqualify himself from the case because of statements he had made that appeared in news accounts.

A U.S. mail carrier and the president of the Gloucester County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are expected to testify today that a horse kept tied for three months in a dirt yard in Franklin Township did not appear abused. Virginia Atkins, a mail carrier, and Agatha Abruzzo, president of the Gloucester County SPCA for 20 years, are the scheduled defense witnesses in the evidentiary hearing for Cheryl Price, owner of an 11-year-old appaloosa named Bandit. State SPCA officials contend that the mare had become dehydrated and malnourished under Price's care since she moved to Franklin Township in October.